Stranded In Galaxy 9

By Edward Meyer

    The tension was building in the NASA space station on Earth as the
first US Tigeress spaceship was being prepared for launch. The crew
consisted of an Earthman called Peter Hendlebottom and a friendly robot
named Bleep, so called because of the stupid noise it makes whenever one
of his calculations goes wrong, which is quite often if you talk to him
using words which aren't in his vocabulary. 

    The US Tigeress was a new design of spaceship with the latest gadgets
and innovations of the 21st century.  The ship had special equipment for
the locating and tracking of alien life forms, should they exist.

    This was Peter's mission, besides having to check if the ship was safe
for space travel, he had to get more information about alien life forms,
(assuming they exist at all).  Since the ship had not been tested in space
before his mission was quite dangerous but Peter didn't really care, in
fact, he didn't mind at all because he was desperate to get away  from
Earth where everyone embarrassed him and teased him because of his
surname.  Peter reckoned that at least if he was alone in space nobody 
would be able to make fun of him, and even if he should meet an alien
their name would probably seem more stupid than his anyway. 

    The countdown had started and Peter was ready with his helmet on at
the control panel of his ship, sitting next to a robot who was shaking,
due to some mechanical fault, which made him look very worried.  This
agitated Peter a bit because he was trying to act as brave as possible
because he didn't want to admit to himself that he was scared and that he
would miss Earth and the people living there.  In no time at all the
engines were on full blast and they were off.

    The spaceship broke through the Earth's orbit and they were surrounded
by darkness that seemed to stretch on forever.  Once he was there he
couldn't believe how beautiful it was.  Everywhere  was pitch black with
planets made up of a kaleidoscope of colours and dazzling white stars
which shone brightly ag ainst their background, inviting him to come and
investigate.  There was one star that seemed to stand out more than the
others and he desperately wanted to visit it but he knew that he couldn't
because it would take him too long to reach it using the normal speed of
space travel.  One new device that had been fitted to his spacecraft was
an intergalactic hyperspace which would make  the molecular structure of
himself and the ship be decomposed and then recreated at another point in
the universe in a split second.

    The only problem was that he couldn't control where he would end up,
except on his journey home, which had a fixed return code so that he would
reappear in the right place.  Once a place has been visited it could be
returned to because a control code could be worked our for that position. 
Anyway, the moment had come to test this device, so he leaned forward and
nervously pressed the button.

    Peter woke up in excruciating pain. He could hardly move and his body
felt like it was in a molten state. He looked up and saw his companion who
said in his robot voice, "You passed out as we went through hyperspace!",
"How are you feeling now?"  Peter replied with an "Aaargh!!!" which
immediately triggered of a 'bleep' which came from a now very puzzled
robot.  Peter got up and dizzily, walked over to the control panel which
was also 'bleeping' due to some malfunction that had occurred.  Peter
turned to the on-board computer and asked for a full report of what had
happened.  The computer printed the following message on the screen,

	"MALFUNCTION!!! Due to some strange supernatural force the main
	engines have failed, and the delicate electronics of the hyperspace
	system and the LDMS (Long Distance Message Sender) have broken
	down.  Although this hyperspace has worked we will not be able the
	hyperspace system again."

   The computer screen cleared and another message appeared.  It read as
follows,

	"We are presently in another galaxy known as Galaxy 9 which is 
	approximately 45 light years away from Earth.  The nearest planet
	is one light year away and according to the messages received so
	far it is called Zeezeegar."

    Before the computer could carry on with the message the robot
interrupted saying, "We have the equivalent of 10 Earth minutes to
identify ourselves and tell the Zeezeegarians what we are doing in the
close vicinity on their planet.  If we do not reply the  Zeezeegarians
will attack the moment the allowed time has passed."  The moment Peter
heard this he froze in fear.  His mouth opened but nothing came out. 

    Suddenly the fact that he had a ridiculous name seemed of little
importance.  Now all he could think about was his family and friends and
the good times he had on Earth.   He was brought back to reality as the
control panel 'bleeped' again showing that another message was coming in. 
The words were spoken through the ISS (Intergalactic Speech Synthesiser)
as soon  as the message had been decoded.  Peter listened intently hoping
that it was good news but yet again he proved himself to be unlucky as it
was another warning from the Zeezeegarians.  Peter couldn't believe this
was happening.  If only they were able to send a message back to the
Zeezeegarians telling them that the US Tigeress was exploring with nothing
but peace and friendship in mind.

    Peter thought hard trying desperately to think of something that would
get them out of this mess.  Peter was losing hope and his mind was
wandered trying to grasp the concept of his inevitable death.  He couldn't
believe that he was stranded in some galaxy with strange aliens going to
come and sap him out of existence at any moment.

    Another signal came from the control panel indicating that  something
had been detected by the ship's radar.  A small green dot had appeared on
the radar screen symbolising another spacecraft, which was heading
straight for the US Tigeress.  About twenty minutes later eight more dots
appeared on the screen.  All of them were heading towards Peter's ship. 
Peter tried desperately to turn his ship around and escape but it was no
use because only the secondary engines of the ship were working and these
were no way powerful enough for what was needed.  The closest ship was
gaining on him steadily and Peter thoughtt hat he was doomed. 

    Peter paced up and down in the control room waiting for the trailing
ship to fire so that it would all be over.  Peter looked at the visual
display unit for the back of the ship and he was surprised to see how
close the ship was.  May be they weren't going to kill him and were just 
going to come and take him prisoner.  The ship was now close enough to
make normal radio contact so he rushed to the control panel in order to
send a message to the ship explaining that he was there on friendly terms 
but before he could really do anything the control panel 'bleeped' as
another message was being decoded.  The display on the computer screen
showed the following message,

	"Hi, my name is Tomkilo Bilpoka.  I am escaping from the
	Zeezegarians.  I have managed to trace your ship using some new
	computers that I have developed, so I know who you are.  The 
	Zeezeegarians are going to kill us both if we don't act soon. 
	There is one way in which we can escape but you must get aboard my
	ship.  Eject from your ship and ent er the pod which is coming your
	way."

    Peter saw the pod through the rear visual display unit and decided
that his only real chance of survival was to go along with this Tomkilo
character.  He grabbed his oxygen supply and ejected immediately.  The pod
came slowly towards him and a hatch opened at the top of it.  Peter
scrambled in and the pod turned around and headed for the ship.  The other
eight ships seemed reasonably far off but it wouldn't take them long to
catch up.  A bright green beam came out from Tomkilo's ship and it seemed
to be guiding the pod to the front of it.

    Soon Peter was standing face to face with Tomkilo who to some extent
was quite like a humanoid.  Probably the main difference was that he had
pink eyes and dark green scaly skin which made him look a bit like a
reptile.  He was holding some kind of device which he spoke in to which
was obviously going to translate what he had said into English.  The
language he spoke was made up of several gargle like noises but properly
translated he said, "We are going to use a molecular transformer to
transport ourselves on to one of the Zeezeegarian ships.  I will set my
ship to collide with yours so that the Zeezeegarians will think we are
both dead.  Anyway, there is no more time to explain now as the first of
the eight Zeezeegarian ships has come in to range for the transformation."  

    Tomkilo pressed a red button on another device which was attached to
his belt while he grabbed on to Peter's right arm.  There was a flash, and
the next thing they knew they were crouched beside some boxes at the back
of one of the Zeezeegarian ships.  Next they heard an explosion which must
have been their ships colliding.  Peter found that he had coped with this
molecular transfer far batter than he had done the first time and now he
thought was a good time to get some questions answered as he was a bit
suspicious of Tomkilo because he did not know anything about him. 
Eventually Peter built up enough courage to ask a question which was, "Why
are the Zeezeegarians after you and what made you want to save me?" 
Tomkilo did not reply.  Peter looked in to the eyes of his companion and
realised what the problem was.  He needed some way of communicating with
Tomkilo. 

    Tomkilo also knew what the problem was, and he could have just given
Peter the same device he had used two minutes earlier to translate his
message in to English, but Tomkilo was finding it quite amusing how stupid
Earthmen were and he couldn't help but laugh at the way Peter was trying
to get his message across, which at the time was sign language. 
Eventually Tomkilo handed the device to Peter, who, when he realised what
Tomkilo had been up to, was not very amused.

    Anyway he repeated his question, this time using the translator. 
Tomkilo took the device back and answered, "Due to massive population
problems on Zeezeegar, a rule was brought out that when somebody reaches
the age of sixty five, in equivalent Earth years, that person must be put
to sleep.  I tried to evade this regulation by escaping, but the
Zeezeegarians didn't like it because if one person escaped then everyone
would also try to.  That's why they came after me.  They wanted to kill me
to use me as an example as to what will happen to those who try to escape. 
As for the reason why I saved you, I can simply answer that it was from
the kindness of my heart.  I realise how important life is and I saw you
were in trouble, so I thought I would try and help."

    Peter was not sure what to say.  He felt sorry for Tomkilo who looked
so hard and strong from the outside, but yet was so soft and sensitive on
the inside.  Peter's next question was, "Now that we have got on board
this Zeezeegarian craft what are we going to do?"

    Tomkilo replied, "The chances are that there are only two
Zeezeegarians flying this ship.  We could capture them, drop them of
somewhere and then head for my home plant Fedlon.  From there you should
be able to make your way back to Earth."  Peter did not like the way
Timkilo had said, "You should be able to make your way back to earth," but
there seemed little else they could do than try his plan.  They walked
carefully to the front of the ship, looking for a  weapon.  Tomkilo found
an iron pole but all Peter could find was a length of rope which he
reckoned he could use to tie the pilots up with.  They slowly stepped
forward and the mechanical doors slid open.  Tomkilo was right.  There
were only two pilots.  They ran in and before the pilots had time to turn
around Tomkilo hit them both over the head.  One of them fell unconscious,
but the other just fell to the ground.

    The Zeezeegarian pilot surrendered immediately and Tomkilo told him to
send a message to  their headquarters saying that they were going to check
something out but Tomkilo warned him that if he said anything else he
would be killed on the spot.  The pilot did as Tomkilo had asked and  the
ship turned away from the others and headed for Fedlon.  On the way they
dropped the hostages off at a small planet called Blastyplast, where they
had to stop for fuel.  From there they  continued their journey in the
direction of home.